Russia to reach coronavirus spread peak in early May or earlier, says expert
11:01, 20 April
Photo: pixabay.com
The coronavirus epidemic will reach its peak in Russia in early May or earlier under an optimistic scenario, Viktor Maleyev, adviser to the director of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of the Russian Consumer Rights Oversight Service, said on Monday.
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"If everything is all right, we will reach a peak maybe in early May, or even earlier, and then will proceed to a plateau. It means that these average figures will stay for certain time to later go down," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He said that everything will depend on how people observe self-isolation. If people do not do that, the peak may be shifted to a later period. Apart from that, the situation may be impacted by those who are returning from foreign countries.
To prevent a recurrent outbreak, lockdown restrictions, in his words, should be listed gradually. "The lockdown regime must not be lifted overnight," he said. "By that time, there will be many symptomless people and if it turns out that a large percentage of people have no symptoms there will be no grounds for a recurrent outbreak because people will have developed immunity," he explained.
To date, a total of 47,121 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,446 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 405 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
